Botanical Gardens & Arboretums in Phoenix, AZ
Looking for a place to commune with plants in Phoenix?
You’ve got quite a few options inside the Phoenix city limits (and in the surrounding ‘burbs.)
Here are the places plant life thrives closest to town:
Phoenix Botanical Gardens
These are Phoenix’s nearest botanical gardens:
Desert Botanical Garden
1201 N Galvin ParkwayPhoenix, AZ 85008
(480) 941-1225
Hours
Daily: 7 am-8 pm (May-Sept)
Daily: 8 am-8 pm (Oct-Apr)
Admission: $16.95 (3+); Free (Children 2 and under)
Parking: Free
Gardens
- Desert Terrace Garden
- Spanish Garden
- Hummingbird Garden
- Butterfly Garden
- Bee Garden
- Cactus & Succulent Galleries
- Edible Garden
- Steele Herb Garden
- Native Crop Garden
- Berlin Agave Yucca Forest
- Grasslands
Other Attractions & Amenities
- Desert Oasis Water Feature
- Butterfly Pavilion
- Nature Trails
- Research & Horticulture Center
- Library
- Full-Service Farm-To-Table Restaurant
- Outdoor Café (Winter Season)
Japanese Friendship Garden
1125 N 3rd AvePhoenix, AZ 85003
(602) 274-8700
Hours
Monday: Closed
Tuesday-Thursday: 8 am-Noon
Friday-Sunday: 8 am-Noon; 5 pm-7:30 pm
Admission: $10 (Adults); $8 (Seniors); $7 (Ages 7-17/Students/Military); Free (Ages 0-6)
Parking: Free
Gardens
- Tea Garden
- Grasslands
- Woodlands
Other Attractions & Amenities
- Teahouse
- Koi Pond
- Stream
- Foot Bridges
- Pebble Beach
- Sculpture/Statues
- Waterfall
- Gift Shop
Scottsdale Xeriscape Garden
Chaparral Park8111 E McDonald Dr
Scottsdale, AZ 85250
(480) 312-2353
Hours
Daily: Sunrise-10:30 pm
Admission: Free
Parking: Free
Gardens
- Native/Xeriscape
Glendale Xeriscape Garden
Sahuaro Ranch Park5959 W Brown St
Glendale, AZ 85302
(623) 930-3596
Hours
Daily: Dawn-Dusk
Admission: Free
Parking: Free
Gardens
- Habitat Garden
- Rain Garden
- Succulent Space
- Cactus Garden
- Desert Food Forest
- Tree Trail
Brinton Desert Botanical Garden
Park of the Canals1710 N Horne
Mesa, AZ 85203
Hours
Daily: Sunrise-Sunset
Admission: Free
Parking: Free
Gardens
- Native (Cacti/Joshua Trees/Agave)
- Shade Gardens
Other Attractions & Amenities
- Native American Irrigation Ditches/Canals
- Archeological Site
Chandler Xeriscape Demonstration Garden
Chandler, AZ 85224
(480) 782-3580
Hours
Daily: Dawn-Dusk
Admission: Free
Parking: Free (Street)
Gardens
- Native/Xeriscape
- Low-Maintenance Garden
- Wildlife Garden
Other Attractions & Amenities
- A Desert Diamond Sculpture
- Child-Friendly, Pet-Friendly Area
Carefree Desert Gardens
101 Easy StCarefree, AZ 85377
(480) 488-3686
Hours
Daily: Dawn-Dusk
Admission: Free
Parking: Free
Gardens
- Native/Desert
Other Attractions & Amenities
- Sundial
- Playground
- Splash Park (April-October)
- Seminars
Phoenix Arboretums
These are the closest arboretums to Arizona’s urban heart:
Fountain Hills Botanical Garden
11300 N Fountain Hills BlvdFountain Hills, AZ 85268
(480) 816-5100
Hours
Daily: Dusk-Dawn
Admission: Free
Parking: Free
Species
- Saguaro Cacti
- Brittlebush
- Hedgehog Cacti
- Ocotillo
Note: It goes by botanical garden, but it really isn’t. It is definitely a cactus/native plant arboretum with a handful of trees, just to make sure it properly fits the definition.
Botanical Gardens & Arboretums FAQ
Getting jonesed up for your trip to a local botanical garden or arboretum?
Here are some cool questions and answers about botanic gardens to help get you in the mood.
Does botanic and botanical mean the same thing?
Yup. You will see some gardens use “botanic” and some gardens use “botanical,” but they have the exact same meaning –
“involving or relating to plants”
The term is derived from “botany,” which is biology’s branch for plant life.
Is there a difference between a botanical garden and an arboretum?
Yes.
There is some crossover between the two, and their missions of preserving, cataloguing and studying plant life is largely the same, but there is a difference between a botanical garden and an arboretum.
That difference is in the plants that they grow and study.
A botanical garden has specialized areas (greenhouses, conservatories, gardens) in which they typically grow non-native plants or collections of plants.
An arboretum is focused on native trees and wood plants (though, they may grow other trees and plants), which are generally grown outdoors in their natural environments.
While there are some arboretums that stand alone, many are found within the grounds of botanical gardens.
What is the largest botanical garden in the world?
Kew Gardens, officially named Royal Botanic Gardens, just outside of London, England is considered the world’s biggest botanical garden.
At 320 acres, it’s not the largest in size, but at 30,000 species, it has the most diverse collection of living plants in the world.
What is the largest botanical garden in the U.S.?
Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania (just outside of Wilmington, Delaware) is the largest botanical garden in the United States by size.
It sits on nearly 1,100 acres, though not all of that is devoted to the gardens themselves.
But if we’re talking species, the largest U.S. botanical garden is New York Botanical Garden.
At 250 acres, it’s only a fourth the size of Longwood Gardens, but houses 12,000 different species of plants.
Could I just grow a bunch of plants and call it a botanical garden?
You could, but you wouldn’t be meeting the official definition or criteria for a botanical garden.
A botanic garden, as defined by the International Association of Botanic Gardens, must be open to the public and its plants must be labeled.
But that is the most general definition.
Botanic Gardens Conservation International, an organization which counts most of the world’s most important botanic gardens amongst its membership, have expanded the definition to include additional criteria.
Some of these criteria are:
- Being largely permanent
- Keeping proper documentation of all plant species
- Maintaining proper labeling of plant species
- Having a scientific basis for collections
- Doing on-site study/research
Basically, if you don’t have a scientific explanation for why you have certain plants and why you have them in certain groupings and you aren’t actively studying them, you don’t really have a botanical garden.
After all, the study of plants – botany – is right there in the name.
